FOUR MONTHLY UPDATE (I'm rubbish at blogging regularly) ...

 We did well with our olive oil this year 75L from about 500kg, which works out at a yield of 1L per 5kg (so much better than last year when our yield was less than half that - 1L per 11kg!!!).

The garden was fabulous this year and was still producing at the end of November ...

 Christmas came and went, we were very sociable, within our Covid bubble, and made merry quite a lot - I even had a birthday party!!! And we host New Year's party ......

Then on New Year's day eve we found another rescue animal ........

A tiny black kitten about 5 or 6 weeks old, we've named her Raven. She turns up every evening as soon as dusk falls. She's scared of the dogs and runs off if they come out, but she and Dennis have bonded like brother and sister - so cute!

 Getting her used to the dogs is a struggle (they are so big and boisterous!). So far we have managed Walter - he's deaf, poor sighted and only interested in her food so not a threat.

WALTER SAVED LOOBY'S LIFE!!!! 

Looby, came from the Canil (dog shelter) in Castelo Branco, she was about 6 months old and had just been sterilised. 

However, despite being sterilised, she used to come into heat regularly, she got the urge to roam, male dogs were atracted to her, she was in a state of unrest for about 3 weeks. 

We were told that when bitches are sterilised sometimes the smallest piece of tissue could be left behind which could trigger her hormones, giving her a false heat. Unfortunately, as the tissue is so small it's not an easy operation to remove it. So we, and Looby, put up with this for 8 years until we got Walter who, although ancient is an intact male. 

When Looby came into heat Walter reacted!!!! He stopped eating, growled at our other dogs if they got between him and Looby, it was mayhem. 

We contacted the vet to see if anything could be done. She suggested ultrasound, might show up anything left behind after her sterilisation.

As she was doing the ultrasound the vet went quiet, then said "I want to operate immediately " ......

Her original sterilisation was a joke - the Canil 'vet' had literally cut the tube between her uterus and vagina, then stitched up the ends. 

So for 8 years Looby's been having full on heats (because her ovaries were there) and, as all the fluids associated with these couldn't escape, she had formed a couple of masses inside her. 

She had an emergency operation, then and there, to sterilise her properly and have the masses (weighing about 2 kilos) removed. The vet said one of the masses could have burst at any time and could have killed her!  

It's now spring, the vegetable garden has been turned over, seeds are germinating in the polytunnel and I am foraging nettles ....... I made nettle tagliatelle, it's really tasty ......

I made rather a lots so we had it two night running and I put some sheets in the freezer for lasagne. Note to self: nettles are a laxative!!!

LIVESTOCK BIRTHS & DEATHS ......

5 months ago we got our goats pregnant, we wanted more milk. 

This week they both gave birth to triplets but, we are absolutely devastated, 24 hours after giving birth our lovely Lucy went into a decline and died - we think she had milk fever, probably from having so many babies. 

So we now have three orphan kids who we are having to bottle feed.

OLIVES, ANIMALS & PREDATORS.........

 Slight hiccup last week when I had to go to the emergency clinic and came away with medication for a stomach ulcer! 

We decided to pick our olives earlier this year, whilst they were still green, so that our oil will be nice and peppery. The first two days went well, we picked 120kgs and 156kg (well on our way to our 500kg goal). 

Day 3 started well; us, our 4 dogs and 2 cats in the big field enjoying the sunshine, until I looked for Looby .......... She'd snuck out under the fence (we'd noted that she was pacing a lot the evening before - a sign that she's starting one of her false heats), she'd got the urge to roam. So we had to drop tools and go search for her - a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack but you need to feel you're doing something. Of course we didn't find her! Fortunately she came back after a couple of hours (great relief), but it lost us the morning's picking and since then only the cats and Walter have been allowed in the fields with us (so she spoilt it for everyone!). By the end of day 4 we had picked 540kg, so now we are booked to take them into the lagar tomorrow.

Netty has been chewing her paws excessively  this last week - she's on really expensive pills as she has been diagnosed with seasonal allergies, but they don't seem to be doing the job, so off to the vet we went. Now she's on double expensive pills and a foot cream that has to be applied twice daily - then we have to stop her from licking the cream off .........

Solution = socks!!!! She's not happy ......

While we were out we left the other 3 dogs out, to keep the poultry safe from predators  - they are bloody useless, one of the muscovy hens had been taken. Netty is a brilliant livestock guardian, the only time we've lost anything since she's been here is when they haven't gone in overnight (or today, when she hasn't been on quinta). On a plus side our Guinea fowl chicks have started hatching out in the incubator. 

GLASS and COMMISIONS

I have managed to make quite a lot of glass pieces over the last year or so. I completed two pieces for our house which I'm very happy with. The first was the replacement for my degree piece that I dropped in my eagerness to see it in place! I actually think these pieces suit the space better than the original work would have. The flora and fauna (and farm animals!) are all indigenous to the quinta. These panels are in the dressing room (sounds posh but it's just a cupboard!).

Photos taken at different times of the day.

The other piece (my favourite) is in the bathroom door.......

Again photos taken at different times of the day.

I have also had a few commissions, this was a very special one - it was a wedding present from the groom's mother which had to be shipped to Australia (unfortunately, due to covid, she was not allowed to travel to Australia to attend her son's wedding) .........

The images for the flowers (three blue pieces) came from an heirloom plate which belonged to the groom's great grandmother.

HOMESTEADING and PREPPING .......

The two lean years in the garden meant that the cold store didn't get replenished much, but that has been addressed this summer and autumn - we have prepped, bottled, pickled and brewed no end. 

The latest crop we are processing are the quinces. We are rather excited by our experiment for quince cider, especially as we have utilised our redundant garden shredder (it didn't work to shred wood!) to chop up the quinces, saving loads of labour .......

So far we have made 40L.

I've also made some really pretty quince cordial ......

It's olive picking time. The first olives picked are for curing, we are experimenting (again), this year - we are curing the olives with lye (drain cleaner!!!!) instead of brine, as we are not fond of the brine cured olives. The next lot picked will be for taking to the mill to make into oil.

Picture of Netty (who will be 3 on Christmas day!) and Dennis the Menace (just because I can!) ........

I WILL TRY TO DO BETTER .......

 Oooops it's s been over 2 years since I updated my blog - I just got out of the habit! But I'm going to try to update on a regular basis from now on.

2019 - 2021 a quick update of the last two and a half years ........

• We rescued a donkey (Alfie)

so had to buy another donkey (Dilly) to keep him company.

• I dislocated my shoulder - trying to catch a goat! It was bloody painful .......

• I had my 4th episode of Bell's Palsy.

• Covid & lockdown!!!!!!  No face to face socialising but lots of internet interaction ....... 1st lockdown: we took part in a weekly lockdown quiz, 2nd lockdown: I took part in a weekly craft challenge - I thoroughly enjoyed that, all the challenges are documented on my Facebook page 'Quinta Glass & Crafts'.

In 2019 we decided to move the vegetable garden nearer the house, our first year wasn't very productive and the second year was even worse as we had a month of rain just after we had planted out all our vegetable plugs, potatoes etc - the land was underwater and it all rotted in the ground so 2021 we went back to the old vegetable garden and had a wonderful harvest, in fact we are still harvesting a lot of vegetables.

We have had no visitors for 2 years (covid!) so we treated ourselves to a new swimming pool as compensation. This winter we will build a decking around it ..........

• August: TWO rescues in the same week .......

1. Walter, a very old dog who had been abandoned by his owners.
2. Dennis the Menace, a kitten who had been dumped in Penamacor.

Walter is on a lead as this was the first time he was meeting the poultry!

Almost up to date ....... 

• September I had to have an emergency appendectomy (at my age!!!!) spent 3 nights in hospital - that was an experience as my Portuguese is still atrocious, but the doctors,  nurses and staff were wonderful and tried their hardest to communicate with me even if the only language we had in common was mime!

HOT, HOT, HOT ........ draft post that was written 2 years ago

JUNE:

SUMMER COMES EARLY:
We haven't had rain for over a month, the temperature in the last two weeks of May was in the high 30s and we're already discussing setting up the pool and our outdoor sleeping .....

NETTIE:
Poor little Nettie came in shaking her head a couple of weeks ago, as luck (bad luck as it turned out!) would have it we were taking the dogs for their annual vaccinations the next evening. So we asked the vet (in Penamacor) to check her ear. First off he didn't have the correct instrument (the thingy that goes in the ear with a light attached) he used something that stretched open the ear canal and a hand held torch! Our poor puppy was whimpering. Then, after saying he couldn't see anything, he started digging around inside her ear with cotton buds!!!! After a couple of days her ear started weeping badly so we took her to the vet in Castelo Branco. Her ear was so badly infected the vet couldn't see down the ear canal (with the correct instrument) so Nettie was put on a course of antibiotics, ear drops, and ear drench. Yesterday we took her back and the vet extracted this (see below) grass seed from her ear, Nettie was so good she didn't even require sedation.

Two weeks in Nettie's ear and it hasn't deteriorated at all

She's been getting rather unresponsive recently; instead of coming, when called, she lies down or rolls on her back and, the other evening, she actually tried to run back down the track rather than going into the sheep shed - we think it could be because whenever we call her to us something negative happens like ... a visit to the vet, ... administration of medication (in an already painful ear), ... being locked in a shed away from the other dogs etc. so we're going to have to make it a more pleasurable experience (with lots of treats).

She's growing rapidly, she's already bigger than Lily and fast catching up with Looby.

"you called ?" ...

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT ....

The old bathroom is going to become our dressing room; at the moment Brett's clothes are on the mezzanine above the kitchen and mine are in a chest of drawers in the living room and hanging from two hooks. Brett has been making doors for the ... new bathroom, ... dressing room, ... our cupboard bed and the cupboard above, ... between kitchen and living (this one is a stable door). Two of the doors have been made for me to install glass in (bathroom and dressing room), the dressing room for one of my degree pieces (the other piece is going in the dressing room window).

The two kites were to go in the door.

Brett made, and hung the door; I was so excited, I picked up my glass (without waiting for Brett ... guess where this is going ...), the glass slipped through the door, I couldn't save it, it landed on the concrete floor and SHATTERED !!!! I was rather upset for a couple of days but now it's turned into a positive as I'm designing a couple of pieces now, for the door and the transom window above, 

BATHROOM

I found some beautiful handles on Ebay for the bathroom cupboard, really cheap with free postage from China. They arrived within a fortnight - I gave them a 5 star review. Brett just attached the handles to the cupboard's doors .....

They sent two different styles of handle !!!

I order two of the one on the right.

The supplier offered a £2.00 refund after I'd asked them to send me the second handle I ordered. I'm hoping if I threaten to involve Ebay they will sort it out, because they don't look good as they are! Update: I got a full refund (and to keep the mismatched handles!).

LIVESTOCK: 

Haha, we have a crowing hen! I googled the phenomenon and it's actually not that uncommon. It was hard to tell fact from fiction (everyone on the internet speaks with such conviction), some sites implied that they could actually change sex - I don't believe it ......

MAKING HAY:

Brett had just started cutting the hay when the belt on the drum mower went. We went to several tractor places, to replace it, to no avail (will look on the interne)t. We had to get Antonio, the man who bales our hay, in to cut it. 

Brett raked it into lines with the wheel rake then phoned Antonio to let him know it was ready to bale. 

We went to Bar do Clube for a couple of beers (with the local crew, plus Helen who was visiting), when we got home OMG disaster ...... a whirlwind had torn through all three hay fields, destroying Brett's lines and taking away about a third of our hay!!!!!

BEE EATERS ....

APRIL/MAY .....

FLORA & FAUNA:
The bee eaters are back, so summer is a comin' ...

Walking around our big field (which is being kept for hay so not grazed atm) looking at all the wild flowers. This one was new to me (I think I've identified it correctly, Aristolochia paucinervis (Dutchman's pipe).

Aristolochia paucinervis / Dutchman's Pipe ...

UPDATE ON NAUGHTY NETTIE:

She's SO naughty, she chews everything! 

All our plants have had to be removed from the decking - she's had the almond tree out of it's pot twice, up ended pots of pansies, eaten my petunias (that have flowered all winter), one plant she's destroyed I don't even know what it was. 

The vegetables have had to be put up high, out of her reach, as she steals onions and potatoes from the rack.

She also comes into the house and pinches anything she can get her mouth on !! 

She's staying in the sheep shed for a good four hours per evening. 

Cont. ......

She's chewed the chairs on the decking.  I bought some new pots of pansies -she destroyed those before they even got on the decking!

Looby has run off three times I  the past couple of weeks (she's on heat); so if she wants to be outside she gets tied to a long lead - Netty chewed through the lead and released her!!! 

MAY: We thought Nettie had a grass seed in her ear, so, as we were taking all three dogs to the vet for their yearly vaccinations (oh yeh that was fun, three stressed dogs on leads - Looby squeaking, Lily forever moving and tangling all the leads up, and Nettie pretending she couldn't walk so having to be dragged into the consulting room!) We mentioned it to the vet. He was so tough with her ear, forcing this barbaric piece of equipment in (making her whimper) and then delving in with cotton buds - anyway he saw nothing but a couple of days later her ear war weeping ..... so we took her to the CB vet - her ear was so inflamed and full of gunk she couldn't see in it, sent home with loads of pills and drops.

BATHROOM:

It's plastered, the floor tiles are laid, it's ready for the walls to be painted.

We chose the paint colour we wanted for the walls a few weeks ago, it's one they mix up in the shop for you (slightly more expensive but it was what we wanted) unfortunately the base paint wasn't in stock. Three weeks later we went back - still no base paint! So we bought a couple of colours and mixed our own - we're pretty pleased with the results .....

So now the walls are painted, Brett had made a wash unit and tiled behind it. The whole room looks fabulous .....

VISITORS:

Henry & Indi are coming for Easter, I'm so excited. I've made them a leaded panel, based on Rame Head (one of their favourite places), I hope they like it!

MAY: They've been and gone; we had a lovely, far too short, time with them.

BEES:

I've finally got a beesuit, I will NEVER post a picture of me wearing it (I look like the Michelin Man!!!). I am not looking forward to my first time working with the bees, it's pretty scary. 

And I should have been scared!!!! First time in with the bees (and all I did was stand there whilst Brett looked at the frames) I got stung, about 5 or 6 times on my ankle - it hurt!

VEGETABLE GARDEN:

We're a bit late starting this year (I started seeds in the polytunnel early but they were eaten by field crickets and I kind of lost momentum); but we're up and running now. We've move the vegetable garden to the area just down from the house. It's far more convenient, got morning and evening shade and it's damper (underground water).